Hargreaves Associates

Shelby Farms can be a GREAT LARGE PARK - a park of significance for all of Memphis and its surrounding region, serving as a recreational and cultural destination while allowing citizens to discover a renewed relationship with natural systems, agricultural heritage, and outstanding scenery. It is an opportunity unparalleled in any other city: 4500 acres dedicated to a park at the heart of the Shelby County, accessible to downtown Memphis, and at the nexus of the Wolf River Greenway and the future CSX rails to trails.

We have approached the site by examining the site-specific qualities that make it a beloved destination today: expansive fields, sweeping views, spectacular sunsets, rolling hills, nestled lakes, extensive walking trails, equestrian trails and events, farm lands, hands-on learning about agriculture and nature, a country drive, and bottomland forests. There is much at Shelby Farms Park to be discovered. We have integrated those elements by creating a multi-layered design that intertwines the various existing areas of the park. A network of landscape and movement systems provides for recreation and access by foot, by bike, by horse, by shuttle...and by boat. A system of beautiful lakes that reflect the memorable Memphis sky allows a connection to the river - both real and metaphorical as well as a whole new movement system on the site - and the park's new name: Shelby Lakes Park.